Help!

[canoetrpr]

Ok. I think I've got the propeller shaft all figured out. Man, I am happy that I got the workshop and parts manuals. I'm not particularly a handy guy and I don't plan on splitting my tractor anytime soon, but it is really nice to have these on hand.

 

[john_bud]

I decided that I really ought to start using my torque wrench to torque bolts instead of just winging it. I get the service manual out and it specifies the torque for the bolt (based on size and type). I come up with 50 ft lbs for the oil drain pan bolts.

Obviously you learned that 50 ft-lb is too much. Tin work bolts are 10-15 ft-lb. The drain bolt is sized for flow, not clamping strength. (Doh! obvious once thought about in the proper light.) Not meaning to beat you up (you've probably done a far better job than any of us could do.) But others may wonder why it happened.

There are many ways to solve the issue, new pan is one easy way. Welding a bolt into the back side of the pay may work. There is probably some junk on the back side to grind off. You can also tack in a piece of 1/4" steel. Just don't JB Weld it on and sell the machine! And certainly don't weld the drain plug on to the pan and sell the machine!!

In my youth, I've bought some like that and cursed the PO !!!

jb

 

[AKfish]

Ok. I think I've got the propeller shaft all figured out. Man, I am happy that I got the workshop and parts manuals. I'm not particularly a handy guy and I don't plan on splitting my tractor anytime soon, but it is really nice to have these on hand.

Well.. everything aside... you're handy enough to tackle the job!! Some guys wouldv'e just called the dealer and loaded her on the trailer for a trip into their shop!

Think of all this "Priceless" knowledge you're accumulating!

Unfortunately, that's the way I've learned too many things... always peeing on the electric fence!

I just hate givin' up on fixin' things or tossing something in the scrap pile. I'd pull the pan and tap the hole with the next size up. You can go with the thread dimensions you want - no fine threads - good hefty ones!

Let us know how you come out.

AKfish

 

[mjncad]

I'll bet that oil pan bolt required 50-newtons, which works out to 11.25-pounds of force, and that sounds more plausible for an oil pan than 50-pounds of force.

Calculation was obtained from Convert Force - Unit Converter

 

[jimmyj]

Thanks for sharing your problem although sorry to hear about it. I'm just about to do my 50 hr and this is a good tip to keep in mind (although I've lost my darned torque wrench someplace anyhow).

Seems reasonable to remove the pan, inspect and if OK re tap and use a new bolt. There really should not be anything wrong with it.

Let us know how it comes out.

Jim

 

[canoetrpr]

It didn't look like pulling an oil pan should be a 3.5 hr job but man thats what it took me to to take that dang propeller shaft off so that I could take the oil pan off.

I spent the three hours cursing whoever came up with the idea of a 'spring pin' as there were three I had to tap out. The workshop manual is quite casual 'Tap out spring pin 1'. I didn't think that there existed a tool to snap out spring pins and man these were tight! The combination of a chisel that came with my air hammer, a hammer and a hex key FINALLY managed to do the trick.

3 spring pins later, the manual suggested something like I 'Slide coupling 2 to the rear and coupling 8 to the front'. The propeller shaft is hooked to the rear and front axle using two couplings and I remember reading in the manual that one ought to grease them when putting the shaft back on... well now I know why. I spent a fair amount of time and a lot of hammering to 'slide the couplings'

When it was finally done, I had a huge smile on my face, from ear to ear. I guess there is some pleasure in fixing things that you screwed up.

I now have the oil pan off and draining. It is a perfectly good pan so I believe that I will tap in larger size threads and pick up a couple larger bolts. I think that I will increase both to a larger size so that I don't have to take two different sized sockets under the tractor for my next oil change.

That better be the last time I over-tighten anything!

Thanks for all the moral support fellas.

 

[JoelD]

Good luck conoe, wish I could help on the shaft question but never done.

Joel

 

[canoetrpr]

Here is the latest development in my peeing on the fence story.

I went in to chat with the parts guys at my dealer's today. Was hoping they could find me a drain plug that was slightly larger - mine is a M12. That way I figured I could drill and tap the drain plug holes to the larger size and replace the drain plug bolt with a larger size.

They were unable to find one that was larger. They looked around various models and excavators etc. and found that all seemed to use the same M12 drain plug.

The suggested that I might want to try an auto parts store like NAPA and get an oversized self-tapping drain plug.

I want to do this right and I want to only do this once. My choices seem to be:

1. Oversized self tapping M12 drain plug at NAPA.

2. Been reading about Heli-coil and other thread repair kits (Timesert) that will restore me back to M12. The sound like they are REALLY expensive at Fastenal - about $90 or $100 - but still cheaper than a new oil pan.

3. Brand spanking new drain pan $219 CDN at the dealer.

I've heard some reports that the self-tapping drain plugs eventually leak - no clue whether or not this is true.

What do you guys think?

 

[Danno1]

.

Go to McMaster-Carr website and do a search for E-Z Lok inserts. Cost you a lot less than $100!!!

.

 

[kenstrac]

Tap it out to pipe plug size!